Category: Apple

A recent report said that Apple Music now has 10 million subscribers. Spotify has 20 million users, so Apple Music is halfway still behind. It’s an incredible climb considering the 10 million users happened in just six months. It took Spotify many years to reach the 10 million users mark. Spotify clearly opened up the flood gates for the music subscription service. Spotify paved the way. Apple is riding on Spotify’s coattails. The question is, will Apple Music eventually supplant Spotify in the future?

GoPro stock price skyrocketed by 16 percent after rumors of an Apple acquisition. Analysts are saying that GoPro will fit as a glove in Apple’s line of products. GoPro had a revenue of $400 million in the last quarter, and has a market capitalization of $2.6 billion. GPRO is currently at $93.85, an all-time high.

Is the iPad Pro a PC killer? Not so fast. Initial tests indicate that the iPad Pro is fast, but not as fast as a laptop. And this whole notion that the iPad will replace the PC is ludicrous. It won’t. Businesses and individuals won’t jump out all of a sudden and abandon their desktops for the iPad Pro. I guarantee it, people will still use the desktop for certain tasks. We welcome the vast improvement that Apple has given the iPad, but in the end, it’s still a tablet, for now. And tablets do what tablets do. There are not desktops. Not yet, anyway. Although, the distinction between the two will most likely blur in the future. Most people’s workflow does not translate on the iPad at the moment. Try to work on the iPad for an entire week without ever touching your desktop, and you get the idea. It’s not quite there yet. And I’m not sure if it’s even going to be there in the future. It’s like trying to mold a small car into becoming a pickup. There are certain things tablets do very well. There are certain tasks that desktops do very as well. I don’t think that moment is now.

Starting today, you can start ordering your Apple TV. It will start shipping October 30. The 32 GB version costs $149 while the 64 GB version is $199. The new Apple TV will ship with a new remote with a mini touchpad. In addition, Apple TV also comes with a new interface and Siri the voice-enabled application that allows you to control the Apple TV using your own voice. To order, visit Apple’s website.

Microsoft is willing to pay up to $300 for an old MacBook. It’s a program called “Easy Trade Up” to give incentive to Mac users to switch to Windows 10. The program is available in the US, UK, Canada, India, Brazil, France, Taiwan and Germany. I’m not sure how effective it will be since Mac users are quite a loyal bunch. Read more.

Apple just got a giant boost for the use it’s mobile payment system called Apple Pay. Starbucks, Chili’s and KFC will start accepting Apple Pay in the next few months. Starbucks has 7500 stores, Chili’s has 1263 restaurants, and KFC has 4491 outlets in the United States alone.

Just read at IW that the new Apple OS El Capitan has locked out users from gaining access to root.

If you haven’t heard, Apple has locked out root from various file system paths and core functions in Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. The new sheriff here is System Integrity Protection (SIP), which reduces root privileges in an attempt to increase security.

The gist is that no user — not even root — can write to /usr, /bin, /System, and /sbin or debug protected processes. Apple has also removed the ability to use unsigned kernel extensions through boot-time flags. It’s important to note that SIP can be disabled, through the recovery partition, but this will typically be done only for development and testing purposes.

Apple has fixed iOS 9 bugs that have prevented many users from upgrading to the latest iOS platform. One of the more common bugs that people have encountered was the stuck on slide to upgrade problem. Some have experienced certain alarms and timers that were no longer playing. The latest version is iOS 9.0.1. If Apple says it has fixed the issues, then it might be worth it to upgrade your iPhone or iPad to the latest and greatest version.

After years of speculation, Apple has finally announced an upgraded Apple TV that will include video game capabilities and a full range of apps. The device integrates with traditional streaming apps like Netflix, but will also host video games like Guitar Hero and Rayman Adventures, offering people one system for many of their media experiences.

“Our vision for TV is simple, and perhaps a little provocative,” Apple’s Tim Cook said. “When you experience TV this way through an app, you realize how much better it can be.”

The new Apple TV will have more power for a better graphics experience, and a new remote with a touch sensor that doubles a controller. The device also has a universal search function that will allow users to find a show or movie across multiple services. Subscribers who have various applications like iTunes, Netflix or HBO could, in theory, search for an episode of The West Wing and then watch it on the service that had it in the catalogue.